THE JOURNAL

Aspiring Shepherdess

Why am I in New Mexico working on a sheep farm?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Telling you the story of this sweater will help answer that question...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀In 2017 I took a Border Leicester sheep fleece that I’d bought in Vermont, processed it from start to finish into roving at a wool mil l, spun the roving into yarn and then designed and knit this sweater.(I actually made a video of this process which you can watch here)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀I used to design and knit knitwear collections for a living.It was part of my two-part business from 2011-2016 (the other part being @agirlnamedleneyphotography) But I started being bothered by the fact that I had no idea where the yarn I used was coming from, how it was made, or how the sheep were treated.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀This led me down the path of learning how to spin yarn in 2015, furthering my education of sustainable fibers which coincidentally went hand-in-hand with my ventures into slow living, which I was also practicing at the time.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Along with that came the conviction of selling goods and feeding into a consumerist society. Creating products that, while well made and more ethical than something you could buy at Target, weren’t necessarily things people always *needed*.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Regardless of my heart behind my knitwear, the nature of selling things, especially when you need to pay the bills, is to convince people that what you have is something they need. Which doesn’t sit right with me.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Nevertheless I have a passion for the fiber arts and have since I was 8 years old and my Grandmother placed two knitting needles in my hand.This avenue of creation is a part of me. I’m on a journey to figure out what kind of part and how I can use it and couple it with my beliefs to better the communities I’m apart of and the world I live in.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Living more simply, sustainably and back-to-the-land are convictions of mine as well. I’m not sure if I’m meant to have my own homestead or farm, but I’m out here figuring it out.